Standing at 6 ft 4″, weighing in at 14 stone 11 pounds and quick to boot, its fair to say he would have been any rugby scouts’ dream. Fortunately for Chelsea fans he signed for them in 2011 as an 18 year old for around £10 million which could rise to £18 million with add ons. With such a hefty price tag for a player so young the fans immediately heaped pressure on to Lukaku’s broad shoulders. With an incredibly successful loan spell under his belt at West Bromwich Albion, Lukaku returns to Chelsea after a well earned holiday on 1st July. He returns with 17 Premiership goals to his name and a new found confidence that he can force his way into the first team just like he did at West Brom.
With his height, frame and African descent a lot of people have drawn easy comparisons to Chelsea legend Didier Drogba. However the flattered Lukaku prefers to quash these comparisons. ”People compare me to Drogba. He is my idol, we’ve a similar style. But I hope to do even better than him and win more trophies.” Comparisons are far off, Drogba was a late bloomer to the sport in 1998 he had actually enrolled himself in an accountancy university course as a back up plan should he not make it as a professional footballer and it wasn’t until he was 23 years old that he actually arrived. The young Drogba had problems keeping fit through injury and finding it hard to stick to an intense training regime. Lukaku on the other hand was Belguim’s Jupiler League top scorer at the age of 17. Fans automatically draw comparisons between the two players mainly because their stature is very similar. However Lukaku is actually a shade taller and heavier but also faster, he is a real modern day athlete. Their playing style differs also, Drogba developed into a striker that could pick a pass and assist. Lukaku is very direct and has very quick feet for a player of his size, he can take players on and is very dangerous on the counter attack.
Having spent the whole of last season on loan to the Baggies, Lukaku has really started to mature as a player and proved that he can easily compete in the Premiership despite his young age. The West Brom fans took to him immediately recognising his ambition, great attitude and will to win. ”He comes from Stamford Bridge, he is bigger than a fridge Lukaku o-o-o Lukaku o-o-o-o,” they affectionately sang about the youngster. Lukaku was quick to find his feet scoring a massive total of 17 goals in the league, considering he only started 17 games. Lukaku averaged a goal every 123 minutes, only Van Persie bettered this with one every 114 minutes, this is all for players with more than 50 shots in the Premier League. Thus beating the likes of Suarez, Bale, Ba, Aguero and Benteke. Lukaku displayed his range of skills by scoring 4 headed goals, 5 with his weaker right foot and 7 with his favoured left and one goal with another part of the body. Lukaku also hit the wood work 6 times he also boasts a statistic whereby he won 33 corners for the club which was the 10th best in the league. On the final day of the season the young prodigy put the icing on the cake with a hat-trick against Manchester United, in a historic day for the 2013 Champions, Sir Alex Ferguson’s last game. Not only did Lukaku come off the bench to score all his goals in one half to achieve this feat but he entered history books becoming one of six players to score a hat-trick against the Manchester club.
If Lukaku is to be successful at the club he needs to learn how to link up with the “three amigos.” So far Torres and Ba have looked isolated in front of a trio of Mata, Hazard and Oscar. The main aim for whoever plays in that lone role is to bridge the gap and drop deep occasionally, hold up the ball well until support comes and just have a general chemistry with that creative unit. Luckily for Lukaku he already knows Hazard well having played at various levels for the national team together. With Kevin De Bruyne also returning to his parent club there really could be some Belgium chemistry in that final third.
Lukaku remains a character with ambition that just wants to play football for the team he loves, Chelsea. He has demonstrated his maturity and willingness to learn by having a season away on loan where he excelled and did even better than many could imagine. Now his primary focus will be to become a first choice player. It will be by no means an easy task with the experince of Demba Ba and Fernando Torres, but Lukaku is a hungry player that is fearless at this age. He obviously is quietly confident that he can make the team as he has himself opted to fight for first team football before the 2014 World Cup. The worry comes if Chelsea do sign a striker such as Cavani and the system which is played only allows for one striker, how far down the pecking order could he find himself? Should he not play as much as anticipated, does he look for a loan move in January? There is no denying his talent, Lukaku has the ability to become a Chelsea leagend, he has shown signs of becoming a 20 goal a season plus striker given the opportunities, now it is down to Mourinho to mould him into the player he wants him to play like and nurture his ability properly. Nowadays having a striker so young lead the line for a Premiership club is very rare, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney are the last examples of this however Lukaku with his ambition and professional attitude will succeed so young.